No monologue lucky for y'all because when I get a monologue, I can go on a rampage.  Enjoy!

Quote of the Chapter:

"That's what happens when it snows in Texas lady. It. Freaking. Melts."

~Leo Valdez from The Lost Hero

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Chapter 10: Poseidon Has A Sweet Tooth

Derek

"Fine, don't go. I'll drive us back to camp," Derek declared, although he hated the idea of leaving Silena.

Bryn shook her head defiantly. "No, they need someone here that knows what they're doing… not that I doubt Hannah but you're the most experienced besides me. They need you."

"But how are you going to get back?"

"I'll drive myself."

"In your state? I doubt you could barely walk to the car," Derek retorted. She glared at him, an impressive accomplishment considering how frightened she was.

"Derek, read my British lips: I. Can't. Go."

Derek looked over at Luke who seemed to have picked up on the idea that something was really wrong. He started to walk over.

"Luke's coming over," Derek told her. Bryn groaned.

"Bryn? Are you okay?" Luke inquired when he reached them.

"Fine, stomach ache got worse," Bryn lied.

"Derek, can I talk to Bryn alone?" Luke requested, although Derek knew 'no' wasn't going to stop Luke. Derek looked at Bryn who gave him a slight nod and a tired blink of her eyes. He took her hands, gave them a reassuring squeeze and then left the two demigods.

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Luke

Bryn was startling white, even with her superb tan. She was shaking but was trying to hide it by wrapping her arms around her stomach tightly. She refused to look at him.

"Bryn, what's the matter? What's wrong? And don't try and say it's your stomach because I know that's a bunch of crap," Luke warned when she started to open her mouth. She clamped it shut and looked up at him, her eyes full of anguish, regret.

"Luke, I can't go," She said quietly. Luke, stunned by the declaration, dropped to his knees in front of her. "Don't get me wrong, I do want to go; I want to help you get your parents but I just can't go."

"What?" He exclaimed. "Why not?"

"I just can't," She said, shaking her head.

"That's not good enough Bryn. Give me a specific reason," Luke demanded, not unkindly.

She clenched and unclenched her jaws before inquiring, "Have you ever flown?"

"No; my parents don't like to. And my grandparents don't either, particularly my grandmother because her parents died in a plane crash."

Bryn grimaced at the news but said, "Why do you think your parents don't like flying?"

"Probably because of what happened to my grandmother's parents."

"I'm sure that plays a part of it, but the real reason is because you can't. You are a grandson of Poseidon, and flying is Zeus's territory. If you flew, you'd be shot out of the sky. You'd be killed. It's the same with Zeus's children on open waters. Little lakes, that's fine, but oceans? Forget about it."

"You're afraid Poseidon will sink the ship, aren't you?" Luke queried. He wanted to take Bryn's hand, tell her everything was going to be okay, but Luke knew everything was far from okay.

Bryn nodded. "He and I might get along but I'm not supposed to go on ships, let alone a massive cruise ship sailing half way around the world."

"Can I do anything to convince you to stay?" Luke pleaded.

Bryn gave a small smile. "The only way is if Poseidon promised he wouldn't try and kill me on the way to Milos but I doubt he would care about a daughter of Zeus being afraid to set sail."

"He might not be willing to help a daughter of Zeus, but he might be willing to help his grandson," Luke mused aloud. He stood up and pulled out his cell phone.

"You're calling a god?" Bryn questioned somewhat dubiously.

"He gave me his number before he left," Luke informed before dialing the number. It rang a couple of times before Poseidon picked up.

"Hello?" His deep voice answered.

"Hi, grandfather. It's Luke," Luke said hesitantly.

"Luke, my boy! How's camp?"

"It was good. I'm on a quest right now. I-"

"You are?" Poseidon's voice was sharp. "Who's with you besides Silena?"

Luke didn't ask how Poseidon knew Silena was with him. "Derek Michaels, Hannah… I'm not sure what her last name is, and Bryn Winchester."

"You're with Bryn Winchester?" Poseidon sounded surprised.

"She was the only one that could be the eagle in the prophecy. I was calling you to ask you something…"

"What is it?" Poseidon asked, his voice suddenly right behind Luke. Luke whirled around in surprise. He hated when people randomly popped up…

"Lord Poseidon," Bryn greeted politely, giving him a respectful nod. He returned it.

"What's wrong my boy? You might want to make this quick because I have some important matters to discuss with my army."

"To get to our destination, we have to sail, but-"

"I can't go," Bryn finished. "It's your territory, and I'm not allowed."

"She has to go. It said so in the prophecy," Luke added.

"I have no objection to her going so what's the problem?" Poseidon questioned, looking confused.

"That was it. Bryn needed reassurance you weren't going to sink the boat with her on it."

"I certainly won't sink it… but Amphitrite or Triton might if they find out she's on our territory. I can hide you from them as long as I can but I suggest you get there as quickly as possible," Poseidon cautioned.

"How long do we have?" Luke asked.

"About five to six days."

"Our cut off is seven days according to the prophecy," Luke said. "I hope the ship can do it…"

Poseidon snapped his fingers and grinned. "It will now. I just modified it so you might be finding it more useful for demigods than regular people. Now that you have my reassurance, I must go. Good luck, Luke. Take care, Bryn," Poseidon said gently, shaking Luke's hand before disappearing, leaving only a cloud of mist behind.

Luke turned to Bryn and begged, "Please tell me you'll go now."

Slowly, Bryn stood up and whispered, "Let's go."

Luke offered his hand; surprisingly, Bryn took it. They headed to the walkway to board the ship. Derek was sitting at the front of it. When he looked up, the shock of Bryn coming along registered on his face.

"You're coming?" Derek questioned. Bryn only nodded. Luke figured that was all she could do because he had the feeling if she opened her mouth she was going to be sick. Derek stood up, shifted his backpack to a more comfortable position, and the put his hand on Bryn's back. They two boys led her slowly up the walkway as Bryn had a small panic attack every few steps and had to stop to gather her wits. It disturbed Luke to see Bryn so distraught. At the same time, he felt guilty because the only reason Bryn was like this was because of him. She was going because of him.

Finally, ten minutes later, they were all aboard the ship. The Greek columns rose above the trio, supporting the floors above them. Luke slid the door shut, bolted it, and turned back around.

"Let's get you to a room and have you rest," Luke suggested. They got onto an elevator made entirely of glass and rode to the middle floor of the ship. Derek looked out, apparently not bothered by the increasing height between them and the floor. Luke and Bryn on the other hand refused to look out and stared out the elevator doors, watching each floor pass.

"It will be quiet here," Luke said as the elevator stopped and he led them to a room. He somehow had a room key and opened the door. Bryn was escorted inside. She promptly fell on the bed and curled up into a little ball. The room itself was nice. It had pale green walls with white bed sheets and brass fixtures. The counters were granite and the cabinets were a light mahogany.

"I'll stay with her. You come get us when it's time for dinner," Derek said. Although he wanted to argue, Luke knew not to.

"Okay. Come get me if anything's wrong," Luke ordered. Derek nodded. "Are you going to be okay Bryn?"

She looked at him and smiled tiredly. "I'm going to be fine. Just go launch the ship. We have a deadline you know."

Luke gave her a sympathetic smile before he left.

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Silena

"Ah hell," Silena grumbled as she saw policemen running to our ship. She wasn't sure if the boat could be moved yet or not because earlier she had seen Luke talking to Bryn and to her, it didn't seem as if Bryn was coming. Silena hoped he had managed to talk her into coming.

"We need to get the boat going, now," Luke commanded, striding into the room. He seated himself in the Captain's seat and skillfully maneuvered the boat away from the dock and out of the port. Somehow, Silena knew everything Luke was doing and why. In fact, she believed she could've done it herself. Luke put in the destination coordinates as Sicily. When Silena asked him why, he replied it would be good to gather supplies before going to Milos just in case. She didn't see anything wrong with it except that it would kill time, but she knew he was right.

"Is Bryn okay?" Silena queried, remembering the vignette between Luke and Bryn she had seen earlier.

Luke hesitated before saying, "She got ill. She'll be okay in a little while. Derek's staying with her. Who wants to go explore the ship?"

Silena and Hannah both willingly agreed. The trio headed out of the command room and down to the main part of the ship: the middle. The middle of the ship was at once a large shopping mall with stores and restaurants. Now it had a weapon's shop, a sword fighting arena, a rock climbing wall that went seven stories high, an archery arena, a computer lab, a massive arcade room, and inexplicably, there was a Dairy Queen in the dead center of it all.

"Poseidon has a sweet tooth," Hannah said with a grin.

"Hey," Derek's voice greeted. Everyone turned around. Luke was somewhat mad he hadn't heard Derek approach but his anger dissipated when he saw Bryn behind Derek. She looked a lot better than the last time he had seen her but she still looked a little pale.

"Are you feeling better, Bryn?" Hannah asked.

"Much better," Bryn replied. "This is quite a ship. Poseidon wasn't kidding when he said he modified it for demigods. Although why there's a Dairy Queen in the dead center, I don't know."

"Who cares? It's free ice cream," Derek said cheerfully, walking over and helping himself to a nice large amount of ice cream in a cup. Everyone followed suit.

They ended up in the cafeteria on the tenth level of the ship. They had finished their ice cream and had decided they better eat protein (although Derek argued that ice cream was protein because it had milk in it. Luke had agreed but the girls told them milk wasn't enough). They ended up eating very little, their stomachs full from the ice cream. One by one, the group headed to bed. Bryn was naturally first, followed by Derek who had taken the room next door to Bryn. In fact, everyone had taken a room on that floor, all right next to each other. Luke's was on the other side of Bryn's, and Silena's was next to his. Hannah took the one next to Silena. Hannah went to bed after Derek, leaving Silena and Luke alone.

"So what was really wrong with Bryn?" Silena demanded gently, taking a sip of her water.

"She's on Poseidon's turf. Does more need to be said?" Luke muttered. Silena knew instantly of what he was talking about. "The feud between the gods about their children being on the others' territory is so stupid."

"I know, but there's nothing we can do about it," Silena consoled, looking at him sadly.

"It sucks," Luke mumbled. Silena agreed and they lapsed into silence, staring out over the ocean.

"Who do you think the traitor is?" Silena asked. The question had been bugging her ever since the prophecy.

"Honestly, no idea. I don't think it's anyone with us, but maybe it's a friend or someone acting as a friend. But whoever it is, they won't stop us from getting our parents. I promise."

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